7 fascinating facts about Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman

When it comes to Westerns, many people think the genre peaked in the '50s and '60s. However, it wasn't until the '90s that Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman hit the air. Taking place in the 1800s, a wealthy doctor named Michaela Quinn moves from Boston to the Wild West after her father dies. When she arrives, she takes on a motherly role for her nieces and nephews while juggling her own practice — as the first female doctor the small town of Colorado Springs has ever seen.

The series wasn't expected to be picked up at all, but ran for six seasons, from 1993 to 1998. Here are some things you might not know about Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.

1

Joe Lando is almost as rugged as Sully

Lando didn’t want to get a stunt double, so unless something was very dangerous for him to do himself, it was all him. According to IMDb, he said he was willing to do things like eat worms and run on top of a train because he couldn’t imagine himself having another opportunity to do them.

2

‘Dr. Quinn’ was offered to Seymour at a lucky time

In an interview with NPR, Seymour admitted that she would have taken any role offered to her at the time of Dr. Quinn. "I'd been married to one of the top business managers and one day I found out that I was completely beyond bankrupt," she said. "Like $9 million in the red with lawsuits from every major bank including the FDIC." She has a day’s notice about Dr. Quinn’s pilot and she signed a five-year contract the next morning.

3

Dr. Quinn was quite the vixen

Though the series was only on their air for six seasons, five men proposed to her. She accepted one proposal, then he died, and Sully proposed to her and they got married. But honestly, that’s what viewers had wanted all along anyway.

4

There were a lot of cast changes

When the pilot aired, producers didn’t expect it to get picked up as a series, billing it as a TV movie instead. When it did get picked up, many actors were unable to commit to the grueling schedule and were replaced. Most notably, child star Erika Flores left her role as Colleen Cooper after two seasons after producers refused a raise. She was replaced with Jessica Bowman.

5

Mr. Rogers stopped by the neighborhood

Fred Rogers was a TV personality, but had never acted before. However, when he expressed how much he enjoyed Dr. Quinn, producers invited him to guest star as Reverend Thomas. It was the only fictional character he’s ever portrayed.

6

You can still join a fan club

If you were a big fan of William Shockley, who played the brothel owner Hank Lawson, you can join an active fan club called Hank’s Hussies. As recently a 2014, the group attended a red carpet premiere for a movie he was in.

7

Albums were recorded at Jane Seymour's home

While filming happened, Seymour had to live in California, leaving her home in England empty. Well, kind of. St. Catherine's Court, her manor house, was used as a recording studio. Radiohead recorded OK Computer, The Cure recorded Wild Mood Swings and New Order recorded Waiting for the Sirens' Call.